During film club this week, I watched a film based around the professional life of Sir Paul Smith 'Paul Smith - Gentleman Designer'. Smith is originally from Nottingham, where I am currently at university so it was particularly interesting for me to broaden my knowledge of the brand and Paul Smith as a person. Its not surprising that the Paul Smith flagship store is located in Nottingham, in a building named 'Willoughby House'. This isn't the only Paul Smith shop within Nottingham, the company's first ever store which is located just around the corner from Willoughby House, remains but now as a 'PS Paul Smith' store which is considerably smaller than than the flagship store and only stocks menswear.
I thought that the film captured Smiths personality really well and it allowed us to have a real insight into his character, and he seems like such a lovely man! He came across really hard working and mentioned in the film that he usually leaves his house at 6 o'clock every morning. Although he comes across really dedicated to his career and work life it seems he has a great sense of humour too. Moments within the film made it clear that Smith doesn't take life to seriously. The designers office featured in the film, a cluttered room packed with inspiration and items of nostalgia he has collected from around the world or has been sent over the years. During the film Smith reached behind his office door he referred to as his 'filing cabinet' and pulled out a newspaper he opened the newspaper to reveal an array of small paper notes he had collected, each note with a different positive or inspiring quote. This struck me as such a sweet idea, lets face it there are times we could do with a positive or inspiring quote or two when we're in the office!
Paul Smith has become a global brand, wholesale to 66 countries around the world in total, 17 of these stores are located in England. Paul Smith stores can also be found in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Korea, Singapore and Anterwep, but the country home to the largest percent of Smith stores is Japan with over 200 located here!
The number of Paul Smith stores located in Japan compared with the number in England, where the brand originates from it is actually quite fascinating and shows just how big the fashion market is in Japan. Within the film we followed the man behind the brand on a trip to Tokyo, I was quite surprised at how similar the Japan Paul Smith stores are to the English ones. The Japan based stores have the same style as that of the English stores, a very clearly English look. The strong links with the English heritage could explain the popularity of the brand in Japan as the stores have an individual look which particularly stands out when taken out of England itself. Not only did the film show just how popular the brand is over in Japan but also Smith himself, he is viewed as a star there and is treated as a big celebrity. He explains when he visits the country during business he attends between 20 and 30 interviews per trip.
Collecting inspiration and information from aspects for fashion from outside of fashion is a big part of my Fashion Communication and Promotion course, so it was inspiring for me to see how Smith collects inspiration ideas for his designs. Clearly this creative process is something Smith feels is important also enjoys, he sees inspiration everywhere and he feels so strongly about this that he even wrote a book regarding the idea 'You can fine inspiration in everything and if you can't look again'. Although the ideas I collect will not inspire fashion designs but instead other creative aspects such as styling, art direction or a colour palette, I still go through this same research process. A lot of Paul Smiths designs are influenced by musicians/bands and fairgrounds, in the film we saw him visiting a fairground photographing everything that caught his eye from patterns to colours. I noticed that Smith takes great pleasure from being behind the camera, snapping everywhere he goes. We even saw him getting involved and taking part in the photography for campaigns and lookbooks for his collection during the film. He explained that he likes to capture a mood rather than the detail of clothes within his brands photography. We saw Smith travel to Portobello Road, London within the film where he searched the rails for vintage clothing which caught his eye. Garments he particularly took a fancy to, or saw something unique in, he purchased and took back to his design team to use as inspiration. He made a point that he doesn't copy designs he likes but may just take inspiration from an aspect he liked about the garment for example, the pattern, colour of a print or the way a sleeve has been put in. I thought this was a strong point as my work within FCP will also require me to use this thought process of putting my finger on what I specifically like about something using this to inspire me rather than just copy what has already been done.
As I watched the film I tried to bear in mind what makes this brand so popular and by the end of the film I had come to a clear conclusion. Paul Smith is individual and not one of these 'try hard' brands we see so many of. Smith even touched on this point himself within the film, he explained that he sometimes thinks the brand should focus on being more fashionable and trendy but he then realises that this individuality is it what makes his brand successful, as it makes it wearable for such a wide audience.
Hopefully having read this you have a little more knowledge about Paul Smith, the man and the brand.
Love, Isabella x
Photo Credits: Google images
No comments
Post a Comment